The San Francisco call. [volume], January 29, 1910, Page 8, Image 8

About The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913

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8
THE BUILDING AND FLYING OF KITES
CHARLES CRISTADORO
NOW that steady winds are blow
. Ing. the. thoughts of boys turn
towurd kites. The city boy will
go to the store and with his .
penny or nickel buy a" factory made
kite — a poor,, miserable makeshift— and '
go home an<l raise Cain until he is fur
nished with a tall for his kite, even If
the damask table linens are sacrificed
to that end. And. then, mounted on a
roof ho files. the kite as best he may,
and ends up in chagrin when, a gust of
heavier wind than uVuol coming ale-jig. \u25a0
.the ! kite dives Into, . some telegraph
wires and the kite tlying la over — kite,
cord and tail gone past recovery.
But tho boy who can build n kite <
from the whittling- of the sticks, to'
the' filial adjustment 1 of the "belly
band." and then can successfully fly
it— he is the one wlio enjoys the flying
of the kite.
\u2666 • ' . \u25a0:\u25a0\u25a0
rio wants, a big kite,, a bow kite If
you will; and. so he secures from" the
carpenter a nUo straight strip ofpine
rive feet long, ripped from the edge
of a clear board. This he \u25a0\u25a0'carefully
scrapes with" glass and then pollslies
with- fine sandpaper. And as lie works
patiently away he is building that kite
In his mind's eye ami following every
detail. -.;
Now lie" must find his bow, and a
hickory- hoop from a sugar tierce sup-*
plles that tough- -mid springy yet sticky '
ajrtlQle.. But; a , little scraping - and
whittling -.gets off the sugar besmeared .
bark, and in due' course " the white,
tough' hickory are. Is completed. \ So it
is fastened to the pine upright and
string ;i» drawn to the pointed base \u25a0
from the two horns of ;the 'halfmoon,
and then the double or treble thick
ness.of red, white und blue tissue paper
is laid in, tassols are cut and hung to
the ends of the, bow, the kite is. strung}
with the strongest of flaxen cord,, the
tail made with infinite care and each
joint sewed instead 'of knotted, and. all' '•
is -:in readiness/
': ,,Bo\out into the open it is taken and
like/, a * messenger to ' the clouds
kite bows- under the strain' and shoots
heavenward, \u25a0 -carrying -the^tairuloff as
gracefully as .'if "o 'live "serpent were
writhing' in th'e ; air. , ; • - '
It is ' a ; : pretty* sight; truly, "to '.watch
that well made.- properly; balanced kite;
stand"; steady out" In its red," white' and
bl lie colors against the background "of
heavenly i blue. v-'; : ''? \u25a0 •' \u25a0 •.
.Messages are sent up and the en
joyment of the boy who flies"the. kite
fully .repays , him for the hours of
patient labor he has put upon it.
1 Then "there are the. humming aeolian
khes'made with' strips of -stiff paper
glued' to uin < outer rim 'of cord en
circling the kite of , orthodox form
kite shaped. Tliese . vibrate" under
Interesting Facts
.The ;trouWe between the United
States and Nicaragua has aroused un
usual interest in' regard to that coun
try. The bureau of, American republics
at Washington ; has received hundreds
of inquiries concerning it, and has com
piled information lo.be sent to those
interested.
•\u25a0 Nicaragua is '\u25a0 as large as, New. Eng
land with Conuecllcut left .out, but ; its
total population Is only 000,000. or
about that of the city of Boston,"'or
the. city of St. '.Louis; It reaches from
the Atlantic to the Pacific, but five
sixths' of the population' aro on the
Pacific side. , There la the city of Leon,
the' former capital, with. (lo,ooo inhabit
ants;, Managua, the present capital,
with '40,000, where President Zelaya
was besieged 'by the insurgent army,
and other cities and towns of 2,000 to
IG.OOO people. The principal seaport
on the Pacific side Is Coiinto, with only
2.000. ';' On the Atlantic slope the only
industry is the raising of bananas, prin
cipally for the ' American markets. Blue
fields Is the principal port, with 5,000
people, Greytown has 2,000.
The country lias a great variety, of
climate,, due, to, the different elevations.
In the eastern part the country-is low
and' very hot; iir the central and west
ern parts the altitude Is great enough
to njake the ellinato delightful; never
any frost and never any uncomfortably
hot weather. One Mb« has lived there
declares that every, day the yeur round
is "Ilka a, June morning, in the United
Ktates." . '
. Nicaragua is a federated ,' republic,
having 13 departments, or states. It
has a president, cabinet, and a con
gress, or . national assembly, coimist
ing of but one house. l^ 8 t year the
TTIK.SAX .I'RA.NCISCO CALL, SATURDAY, JANUARY 29, 1910,—TIfE JUNIOR CA Lj^
pressure of the breeze and sing the
same music that the. harps of Aeolus
did in the groves around the temple of
Diana at Ephesus. 5
\u25a0 Then there were the. kite battles,
where the crescents of razor edged
About Nicaragua
country exported $1,500,000 and import^
ed $3,000,000 worth of goods. It im
ports from the United' States textiles,
clothing and^ machinery, and sends here
bananas, coffee, rubber, mahogany, cal
tle and hides.
Our Trade With South America
• South America furnishes about. eight?
ntr.ths ,of the 'coffee supply, of the
United States, 'the total imports ; of
coffee into tho, country during-, the
10 months of 190P having been 845,000,
000 pounds, valued at » 564,000,000, of
which 715,000,000 pounds, valued at
$54,000,000, came. from South America,
Brazil's share alone being 649.000,000
po'mds. Brazil is the largest single
source of supply for rubber imported
intc tho United Stutes, furnishing
nearly half of the 73,000,000 pounds
imported in tho ten months of 1909
under review, the remainder chielly
f rom, Mexico, i Africa, and the East In
dies. Of the 98,000,000 pounds of goat
skina .Imported, into \u25a0 the United States
in 10 months /of 1909,. 3,666,000 were
from Brazil and 6,133,000 from, other
South American countries; while of the
total Imports of cattle hides, aggre
gating 808,000,001* pounds in the period
under discussion. Hi axil's share was
but 2,666,000 pounds out of a total Im
portation of. 89,000,000 pounds from all
South. -America. Of -the 271,000,000
pounds of wool Imported during the
10 months of 1909, 34,250,000 was cloth
ing wool from Argentina,; 4,333,000
clothing wool from oth«r parts pt
South America and 7,000,000 carpet
wool from that continent.
KxportH to South America in 1909
will approximate. If not actually equal,
glass chipped from the body of a 'ryJk'en
bottle: were cunningly, arranged like
grappling ironsat-the end of a smooth
jointed tall, 'and it a matter', of
jockeying to drag the tall of your. kite
against the string of the other, boy's,
tho high record total of 86,000,000 made
in .the calendar year .1907. For the \u25a0
10 months under review the total is
«7. 500,000,' against 71,000,000 in 1907.
Comparing 10 -months' exports in 190'J
with those of a like period of 1908, .
exports to Brazil Increased from-$14,
000,000 to $16. 000,000'; those, to Argen
tina from $28,000,000," to $29,000,000; to "
Chile from $4,500,000 to $5,500,000; \u25a0\u25a0
Uruguay, from ,$2,750,000. to. $3,333,000,
and those to Venezuela from nearly .
$2,000,000, to a little over $2,000,000.
.supply by far the
larger proportion of the" exports . to
South America, while, raw materials,
and foodstuffs supply, most of thoim
poits from that continent. . Exports of
illuminating oil . to South America,
showed in the 10 months of 1909 a
total of $6,000,000; boards, etc., $5,750, -
000; agricultural implements, $5,000,
000; cotton cloth, scientific Instruments,
rails, wire and hardware, each about
$2, C00, 000, and naval stores, twine,
sewing machines upper leather, lubri-,
caMng oil, lard, locomotives, cars and
cariiag-es, cottonseed oil,' furniture,
electrical ..machinery and typewriters
ranging downward from $1,000,000 to
$500,000 each. — Department of Com
merce and Labor Bulletin.
Sonfe Words and Their Origin
Velvet takes its nrnne from the Ital
ian "velluto," shaggy, offering in this
respect a parallel with "satin," which
cornea from the Latin "»eta," a bristle.
As a rule it is safe to guess that, the
name of a dress material comes from
some placß.- Besides such obvious cases
as "astrakhan," "cashmere," arid
"tweed," there are "fustian," from Fu
stat. (Cairo); "muslin," from. Mosul In
Mesopotamia; "damask," from Damas
cus, and "cambric," from Cambria
while "millinery" Itself U from Milan.
nnd that wan the.eiul 'of his kit**' n.s the
razor grappW-r was hauled against" Ills
kite string. \u25a0 •
Glue, too, was apptledttq the tail and
powdered glass sprinkled upon it, mak
ing when dry a sandpaper. that" would
cut through any kite string. \u25a0
Kites were made, large enough to
pull a buggy on the sAnd or a'sled over
the snow. '• I "remember "once n six foot
' squaro linen covered \u25a0 kite being sent
\u25a0 up early In Mnrch in an caste.m- state
when the fields were yet 4 heavily crust
ed with snow. Up went the kite and In
the all but March gale'lt-took a' score
-of; boys to hold "on-to'.tho strong line.
Then a .dozen sl^ds were fastened one
• to. the., other, in tandem, and the kite
String fastened to. the leading sle<i.
Away they went up and down hill for
a mile or mor»« .and the runners . hnd
a hard time to keep. up with the swift
moving string of sleds. Presently a '
\ fence and trees loomed up in the dis- '.
tanee ami .as the kite drew the boy
laden sleds nearer and nearer one after .
another of the^boys rolled off upon the ;
snow and that loft the kite free to ,
pull a string 'of sleds up ; Into the .
branches of a gigantic elm,, and there '.
. they hung .until after the wind went
down with the sun anil the giant with •
it... \u25a0 .. - , ' ' i \u25a0...:. .. :.-\u25a0;/
The Chinamen. have mndc kite, bylng '
all, but a religious rite' and. many are •
the shapes of the. kite's flown' by, them. .\u25a0'\u25a0
The birds of the air, the "beasts; of the '
fields and the fishes of the sea are lint- .
tated with "wonderful "fidelity. 1 :A tiger .
and a shark bow to each other in the
air. as^if they were old. friends, and the j
.' boa constrictor writhes in' the*. air as
if he were anxious to crush* the fleet
deer that flies-o nly, a short', distance \u25a0
• away, . but-. takes good care to kpep but •
of his way. '•,.', v '' ''-' v^- '-\u25a0• --\u25a0\u25a0'
Science wjth .its aeroplanes- arid box! »
kites has toid-.us how many." degrees, it \u25a0
is below zero L'o,ooo .feet up hi^the'air ,'
a nil .we have.had ; photographs/; of ,, the .;
earth take'n' from box' kites high" un^iii -,'
the -heavens. ... , :•.,""
And then we have the gas kites that
bid fair to make, war impracticable, or
force the- issues in midair, making it
really, a battle, in the clouds insteud-'of
• upon -the sea »or. land. .And -it 1 is • the: .\u25a0'.
submarine: Iboatj and- the I dirigible Iwaf-M
kite that will d(V more. to insure lasting 1
• peaee*and'. force /arbitration* lnto~gen-~ •
eralfuse {than; all : The * Hague : tribunals ; ,
. lh\«xistehce.* \u25a0 It .':ls, the futility 'cif.war \u25a0
made nianifest..;thftt will.^ do'i mnst \u25a0to •;•
make war unpopular as an »drbUer of .
, International disputes. Of; courser-it Ms i .
«; dreadful thing; to -imagine a^ar, .kite ',
dropping hundreds : of ' pounds."', of- ter- \
rible explosives" upon the^buildings of. -
-.a -doomed city,.- and it is just^such, -real- '
itles las these ' brought home> ;to" thf.
'people.that ;will keep arbltratron'coiirts ;
of'the "worlii in daily, session." *:";•
' 'The kite^, has been a plaything,' and i
"yet at times has proved.i tself bf.great
use. T When' , the first Niagarajbridge -
- was built the problem was: how ''to. get' :
aline across; and the' engineers .were '.
at; their wits' end, whena boy, aiul|kite ,
were^brouglit'into play. .The; kite* was ',
flown, across^ and av'littlerstronger
string attached-t9 the kite string, and
.this was .done again, and again 'until, a
steel cable was hauled across attached
•to? a<" hempen rope, and- that' was the ,
beginning- of the 'first bridge 'over '
Niagara. • ' • *". *;.J^ \l- "
The Coin Hunter at Work'
• One of the most curious of the many
curious trades of Paris is that '"of 'trie
coin hunter. Many coins must be
dropped *by Inadvertence each da.y in
a big city. like Paris, and the business
of the coin hunter is to'flnd us^niany of
them as lie can. Sometimes, 1 according
to the confession of one of, them, these
poor" creatures pick up as .much as 3
francs a day. but their average taking*
amount to I franc 50 centimes. -
The manufacture of -Immortelle
wreaths in Paris occupies at least
1,500 parsons. The Immortelles are
gathered about the beginning of Octo
ber, nnd come chiefly from the arid
hills in the middle and south of France.
They are brought to the 'markets in
their natural condition, and the yellow
blossoms are dyed green, red and white
and . woven into wreaths by special
workmen in readinetts for All Saints'
and All Souls 1 ' days, _ .when.- all good
Parisians visit their relatives', graven.
One of the strangeßtjoccupatlona fol
lowed by the people of the teeming
east side of New York is that of "dish
lender." There are only two men — one
a Hebrew and the other, an Italian— in
the business. The former bus his "es
tablishment" in the basement of a si*
\u25a0 lory tenement house. The place is
almost" entirely : lined, with, rows of
shelves, on which are neatly arranged
tea. and dinner services of varied colors
and patterns, besides dishes and platen
of all kinds. In one corner. is a large
wooden box divided into numerous par
titions for the knives, forks,, spoons
and other "nilverwure." Most of tho
borrowers are as regular as clock